The mission of a mom-centric lifestyle website should be to offer it's reader the best advice you can get in terms of life management and home organization. Readers should be guided and encouraged to run their lives and families in a smooth, organized fashion. Um, that's not really where we're at right now tho so this is the best we've got for now. We have a goal to get it together in a couple years but it's a process we're currently working on with our therapist. In the mean time, here are the top six things we believe every mom should have in her purse.

Wallet

This is a tough one, but try to remember to put your wallet back in your purse after seeing your kids slide it under the couch. It's a well-known fact that an estimated 82% of mothers do not have any room for error in their schedules. For example, you probably already know that it takes 12.67 minutes to get to the grocery store after work and that you have to leave the store with exactly 5.42 minutes to pick up your kids on time. Forgetting your wallet is a disaster of monstrous proportions. You’ll have to go back to the store with your kids, even though you were just there. This incident can equal up to seven sessions in therapy.

A mysteriously opened diaper

This is very helpful to have because it doesn’t look dirty but for some reason it’s open. You never really know – has this diaper been used? Is it clean? Eventually you’ll have to resort to using it and you’ll get to question whether or not you're qualified to be a parent.

Severe cold medicine

Finding someone to watch your kids when you're sick is so difficult it’s close to impossible. You’ll have to like bribe babysitters or ask your spouse to change career paths. When you can’t make it happen – it’s so so rough. Make sure you have your favorite cold medicine on hand at the very least.

Cash

An obvious necessity because nothing gets recorded when you buy something with cash. No need for anyone to know of any daily donut or starbucks purchases.

Receipts

Receipts are great because you can never find the one you need but get to be reminded of when you bought a food processor a year ago that you never actually use. This is also probably how your spouse will eventually find out about your donut and Starbucks purchases.

Dark lipstick (skip the concealer)

People should know how tired you are and dark lipstick really brings out those dark circles under your eyes. Applied well enough, it could potentially lead to people offering to do a favor for you or two out of sympathy and concern.

What do you have in your purse? Anything we should add to our life-changing list?

We're so excited to finally have a baking recipe up for you guys so that we can appear more legitimate. We do ask, however, that you refrain from asking us any basic questions about baking. Instead, all inquiries regarding the science of baking should be submitted here. Also, yes, this recipe does use only whole wheat flour, and we are aware that baking with whole wheat can make any mouth-watering treat taste like a sweater. We wouldn't do that to you though so we made sure to balance it out with a nice amount of honey, cinnamon, and two ripe bananas. With the help of those ingredients, this recipe is actually really good. Bonus: the recipe is simple, it's super easy to stick in your kid's lunch box or to grab for your on-the-go breakfast. You also get to tell people that it's homemade.

If you're celebrating Purim this week, this is a great recipe if you don't have much time to leave the house to give out gifts to people. You can make a batch in the morning, let people come to you, give them a muffin (feel free to substitute with white flour for extra deliciousness...) and offer them a cup of coffee. Awesome. Done.

whole wheat honey muffins

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. In a separate smaller bowl, mash the bananas really well (small lumps is fine). Add the eggs and mix until well combined. Add the honey, oil, vanilla almond milk and mix completely. Pour into the large bowl of dry ingredients and stir until well mixed. Spray a muffin tray with oil and fill each one with batter, leaving a little room at the top. Optional: top the muffins off with a dusting of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Makes about 12-15 medium sized muffins.

p.s. you won't believe this uses whole wheat pasta p.p.s you won't believe you lived your life without this for so long

We've had two posts so far with the amazing Fawn Julsaint. She is our go-to guide, teaching us how to get better and better at taking care of our homes. But now it's time to get to know her a little bit better. We asked Fawn a few questions about herself and about her business, My Deer Cleaner. We loved her answers and we know you will too!

first things first... dogs or cats?

Short haired, friendly cats. I dislike pet hair and dogs are like having a permanent toddler.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

What I enjoy most about my job are the people - the families I get to meet and get to know. I love connecting with moms over a cup of coffee as I work, I love knowing I'm supporting people live their lives well, and I love the clients who in return take care of me and my family by letting me bring my daughter occasionally and give me gifts for her or myself on special occasions. I really value connecting with others and i like that my job allows me to do that multiple times in a day.

What's one thing you wish you could change about your job?

If I could change something about my job I would clone myself so I could take on more clients! My time is often maxed out and I feel overwhelmed keeping up with running a business well and balancing my own family time, in addition to having a moment to rest physically as cleaning can be quite a workout. I am always looking to learn better systems for time management and relaxation.

How do you take your coffee?

I drink coffee many differnt ways as it is the fuel of life. I love Starbucks soy lattes and prefer drinking them iced in the summer time. If it's regular coffee I like two cream/two Splenda. Or a splash of flavored creamer. But one of my favorite things to do is to make coffee. I like trying out different beans from specialty coffee shops and grinding them at home. My favorite methods are pour-over coffee and French press coffee. They really bring out the smooth flavor of the coffee beans and it smells SO good.

Use five words to describe yourself

Where would you like to be your business in a few years?

I would love to see my business grow to a point where I have several employees doing the cleanings and I can focus on training and drinking coffee with the clients :D. I have a vision for hiring other moms like myself who need flexible, reliable employment that pays a living wage. I want to help these women learn and grow personally and professionally.

Thank you so much for your inspiring answers, Fawn! We look forward to our next installation and to watching your business grow!

Want more of Fawn? Of course you do. Check her out on insta @mydeercleaner

Good morning to all you beautiful mamas out there,

I'm so excited to be a part of an amazing event coming up next month. On Sunday, March 4th, there will be a presentation and panel discussion at the Jewish Child & Family Services in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. The awesome Mara Tesler Stein - a psychologist and author in Chicago - will be discussing how to cope with emotional hardships that come with prenatal loss and trauma. I'll be speaking on the panel and sharing my experience with miscarriage as well.

As an observant Jewish woman myself, I've learned that our experiences with prenatal loss and trauma are nuanced and can differ depending on the communities we live in. While the discussion will focus on the experiences of Jewish women, there are many underlying themes we can all relate to. No matter where we live, we all need non-judgmental support, empathy, and understanding.

I'm so happy that our last article on miscarriage could offer some comfort and support to the women who read it, and I know this event will do the same. If you have any additional thoughts, ideas, and insights you'd love to see included in the discussion, please feel free to leave a comment here or on our Facebook page or Insta. Check out more information in the flier below.

<3

Nurit

Thank you to Ohel Sarah, Daughters of Israel, and JCFS for putting on this special event!

There's only one thing more terrifying than not being able to find your baby's pacifier at 3:00 AM and that's not getting to have a nice, warm cup of coffee in the morning when you're super sleep deprived. Just kidding, there's probably a cold cup of forgotten coffee in my microwave as we speak. No, the one thing worse than the paci situation (maybe not, but it's up there) is coming back home from a long family trip and having to go to the store cause there's no food in the house. So what do we do to solve this problem? On your last grocery store trip before your travels begin, buy three things: Tortillas, shredded cheddar cheese (keep it closed till you come home), and a can of black beans. When you come home you can make quesadillas. Or you could just get some milk and cereal and call it a day.

If you want a bit more than the bare minimum, we also have suggestions below to make it more interesting. What do you guys eat when you get back home from a trip?

cheddar cheese and black bean quesadillas

olive oil or an oil spraytortillasshredded cheddar cheeseblack beans

Spray or lightly coat a large pan with oil. Add a tortilla to the pan and let it warm up for a moment, then flip it. Do the same with the other tortilla and then set aside (this will help the cheese melt faster). Place the first tortilla back in the pan and add a layer of shredded cheese to the tortilla, leaving about a half to one inch of space around the rim. Drain and rinse the black beans from the can. Sprinkle the beans on top of the cheese (doesn't need to a be a full layer at all). Place the other tortilla on top and cook on medium heat. You can cover the pan to make it warmer faster. Once the cheese has melted, carefully flip the quesadilla to brown the other side without the cover. Remove the quesadilla onto a safe surface to cut into six slices. Serve nice and warm with any extras you'd enjoy.

*Disclaimer: For throw-together recipes like this we don't usually add measurements because honestly we've hardly measured anything since 11th grade chemistry, but we are more than happy to add specifics to all recipes if that makes it easier. Let us know what you prefer in the comments below!

P.S. we promise we still measure sometimes! p.p.s. great tips for grocery shopping on a strict budget